


Drive All Night

by onceuponatime



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, a lot of fluff, feelings and other things of that nature, i dont even know, it has nothing to do with driving, its, sex is hinted at, that's just the song, this is disgusting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5989321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponatime/pseuds/onceuponatime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was then that Luke saw him, reaching for Calum’s wrist and pulling him out of the mass of people and to the side of the dance floor. His bright red hair was impossible to miss, and Luke knew it well enough because he spent all of fifth period English staring at the back of it. Luke sighed – Michael Clifford; beautiful, confident, openly gay and so far out of Luke’s league it was somewhat laughable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drive All Night

**Author's Note:**

> so here is this mess. It's been sitting in my drafts folder for so long and I had to get it finished. anyway. the song in this fic is Drive All Night by Bruce Springsteen and I'm not even joking when I say you all need to listen to it because it's the most beautiful thing and I love it  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8qpTL1wxGQ

*1*

Luke didn’t _hate_ parties, it’s just that every single one he attended ended up the same way; sitting by himself on a sofa, nursing a two hour old bottle of beer, while he watched people dancing as he waited on Ashton to come back from wherever he got to and drive him home. He was far from popular, but he knew enough kids in school to get invited to parties. Well, he knew _Ashton_ , and Ashton got invited to parties and then, in turn, invited Luke. Whenever he got to these parties, he always thought the same thing: why am I here? And that night’s party in someone’s dingy living room while their parents were away for the weekend was no different.

He took a swig of his beer as his eyes roamed over the cramped living room, where the improvised dance floor was full of drunk, horny teenagers grinding on each other or making out. He wasn’t even sure whose house it was, and even less sure about how to find his way home, so all he could do was hope that Ashton would get bored pretty quickly and decide it was time to leave. Which probably wasn’t going to happen for a while because as soon as Ashton had a foot in the door, he was dragged down to the basement with his arty friends to talk about poetry and philosophical stuff that Luke tried to listen to once, but just got lost halfway through the conversation and spent the remainder of the night playing solitaire in his head. So he was perfectly happy to stay in the sitting room and make small talk with anyone who recognised him.

He didn’t really expect Calum Hood, soccer player extraordinaire and “heart throb” to sit beside him and engage in conversation, but he never expected his brother to barge into his room while he was watching porn, either, but that happened. “Hey, Luke right? You’re in my math class,” Calum Hood said, and Luke willed his idiot mouth to open and for words to come out because Calum Hood was smiling at him and waiting for an answer.

“Yeah, it’s uh, it’s Luke.” He wanted to bolt, leave nothing behind but a smoke silhouette because this had to be the most awkward exchange Calum Hood had ever encountered, but he didn’t, because Calum was handing him a fresh beer and then holding his hand out for Luke to shake. Luke took the beer, muttered ‘thanks’ as he shook Calum’s hand, and then went back to wondering just what in God’s name Calum Hood was doing talking to him, of all people.

Calum looked at him for a moment, sipped out of his beer bottle as his eyebrows furrowed. “Are you okay?” He asked after a second, and Luke choked around his mouthful of cheap alcohol. As Luke wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, Calum clarified. “You’re sitting here on your own and you look a little bummed. Looked like you needed a bit of cheering up.”

Luke shook his head and dried his hand off on his jeans and grimaced at the stickiness. “No, I’m fine, I just,” He said, leaning forward to put his beer on the floor, hoping no one would knock into it and spill it. “I’m here with my friend, and he got dragged down to the basement. I tried that scene once, never going back.”

“Ah,” Calum said with a small laugh. “The weed pit.”

“Weed? No, I don’t think he smokes weed. They just talk about art and shit.” Calum gave him a look that made him feel stupid, raising one thick eyebrow and smirking.

“Luke,” Calum said, taking another swallow of beer without even letting the disgust show on his face. Luke was impressed. “That’s what the basement is _for_. Weed. Pot. _Marijuana,_ ” Calum said, giving Luke a nudge with his elbow and waggling his eyebrows.

“Alright, alright, I get it. It’s just – I hope he’s not smoking it because he’s my ride home.”

Calum rolled his eyes, “Smart, cute _and_ responsible? Save something for the rest of us, eh?” He said it with a smile, so Luke knew he was kidding, but he blushed and shoved at his knee with a disgruntled ‘hey’ anyway.

They fell into a comfortable silence, Luke taking small sips of his beer and trying to keep the taste of it off his tongue while Calum hummed along to the songs that were playing from the speaker system set up in the corner. The mood was changing – slower songs were starting to be played to give people a chance to recuperate and the people dancing in the middle of the room had started to pair up and move in a drunken sway, clutching to each other with one hand and their drinks with the other.

Luke was pulled from his trance when Calum’s phone started ringing from his jean pocket. He frowned down at the screen before looking back up at Luke. “Mind if I take this real quick?” he asked, holding his phone up in one hand with an apologetic look on his face. Luke waved him off and let his eyes wander back to the dance floor, hands clasped between his knees.

“What?” Calum shouted down the phone, hand blocking the noise out of the ear his cell wasn’t pressed against. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I’m on the sofa in the living room, come find me. Fine, okay, jeez Mike.” Calum hung up the phone and turned to face Luke on the sofa. “I gotta go, I’m sorry, but we should meet up sometime, you seem cool.” Luke snorted, because he was the personification of the word un-cool, but smiled and agreed when Calum asked him to save a seat for him in their Monday morning algebra class.

The song changed again to a song Luke knew immediately. It was one he grew up listening grew up listening to; his dad always played for his mom when they danced in the kitchen and it always made Luke happy, seeing his parents so in love and singing to each other. Luke mumbled along softly, his voice completely drowned out by Bruce Springsteen as he sang [Drive All Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElVcxC89lqk) and watched Calum stand from the small sofa, pop his back, and head in the direction of the door, pushing his way through the mass of sweaty bodies.

It was then that Luke saw him, reaching for Calum’s wrist and pulling him out of the mass of people and to the side of the dance floor. His bright red hair was impossible to miss, and Luke knew it well enough because he spent all of fifth period English staring at the back of it. Luke sighed – Michael Clifford; beautiful, confident, openly gay and so far out of Luke’s league it was somewhat laughable. He knew Calum and Michael were best friends – had been since as long Luke had seen them in school – and it should look like two worlds colliding whenever they hung out, one jock and one ‘bad boy’, but they fit so well together it made Luke’s chest ache. He couldn’t help but wonder if they were more, and thought bitterly that they’d be perfect for each other.

He watched as Michael leaned in to whisper something in Calum’s ear, and Calum rolled his eyes in exasperation before he took Michael’s hand and led him to the dance floor. He planted his hands on Michael’s waist, and Michael put his hands on the back of Calum’s neck, fluttered his eyelashes and laughed as the two of them swayed around the floor. Near the end of the song, Michael rested his head on Calum’s shoulder, and Luke took a long swallow of his beer.

He didn’t even watch as Calum dragged Michael out of the front door afterwards.

*2*

“I didn’t wanna come to this stupid thing,” Michael said as he crossed his arms across his chest and slumped down in his seat. “They don’t even have alcohol.” Luke mumbled his agreement, just to have something to say. In reality, he was enjoying the prom. He wasn’t on his own for once, since Calum, and subsequently Michael, had kind of adopted him as a friend. And because of this he got to see Michael in his fancy prom clothes before he got tired of them and ripped the top three buttons of his shirt open and discarded the jacket somewhere when his mom was no longer around to tell him to keep it on. The whole car ride he’d complained about how the shirt sleeves were cutting off the circulation in his arms, and the dress pants he was wearing did nothing for his claves. Luke disagreed, but managed to avoid telling Michael so and sat in the back of Calum’s sister’s car grinning like an idiot as Michael ranted about how he wasn’t even allowed to wear his boots.

Calum sighed. “It’s your senior prom; will you at least _try_ and enjoy yourself?”

“That’s easy for you to say. Unlike you, I’m gonna be stuck in this damn seat all night. Every girl in the place has been practically drooling over you since you walked in.”

Luke imagined himself being brave, telling Michael that he thought he was hot, and he definitely had most of the people stuffed into the gymnasium drooling over _him_ , in his all black outfit and perfectly messed hair glory. But Luke wasn’t brave, so he just let out a laugh that sounded fake even to him and turned pink when Michael looked at him with raised eyebrows.

“That’s not true,” Calum protested, but Luke knew it kind of was. “And I thought you didn’t want _girls_ to drool over you?”

“That’s not the point. The point is you’re gonna get lucky and I’m gonna be stuck here on my own all night.”

“Luke’s here,” Calum said, gesturing to Luke with his hand. “You like Luke.” Luke tried to make himself less pink and less dorky, but it didn’t seem to be working because he could feel his ears starting to heat up.

“Yeah, but Luke’s not gonna give me a blowjob, is he?” Michael mumbled, putting his elbow on the table and resting his head in his hand.

“Mikey,” Calum gasped, thumping him on the arm. Luke spluttered, his breath catching in his throat as he tried get a word in, mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of something to say. But he couldn’t think of anything other than “I would if you’d let me,” so decided to keep his mouth shut.

“And why would they have it in the gym? This is the worst place in the whole school. It reeks of sweat and I just get flashbacks of running. We should have just stayed at home and got a pizza and a few beers.”

Calum shoved Michael’s shoulder. “You’re the whiniest person I know.”

“It’s true,” Michael huffed. Luke patted him on the shoulder and offered him some of the chips from the bowl on the table. They were dry and tasted like cardboard with too much salt on it, but Luke ate them just for something to do.

He couldn’t help but think that Michael was right, though – that staying in with a pizza and cans of beer they coerced Mali into buying would have been a lot more fun than sitting in the school gym at nine o’clock, drinking overly sweet punch and listening to the same ten pop songs on repeat. The chaperones were walking around, tapping people on the shoulders when they were getting too close and Luke was nearly one hundred percent sure he saw Mr. Davidson, the Biology teacher, drinking something from a hip flask before hiding it back in his jacket. Luke couldn’t help but feel jealous.

He hardly heard the dj make the announcement about pairing up, too busy staring at the pale skin of Michael’s chest that was exposed when he opened another button, complaining that it was chocking him to death, but he did hear the difference in the music being played and it made both him and Michael groan in unison.

“You two, honestly,” Calum said. “You don’t have a romantic bone in your body.”

Michael muttered something undecipherable, pulling his phone out of his pocket and starting a game of tetris, and Luke didn’t say anything at all.

It was inevitable, really, that Calum would be asked to dance and leave Luke alone with Michael, who was furiously mixing the bright red liquid around in his cup with a straw after giving up on his game. Half way through the second slow song, a girl Luke recognised from their English class walked up to Calum, red and bumbling, and asked him for a dance. She was cute and shy, dark hair curled over her shoulders and bright red lips spread in a smile. He agreed and turned to wink and say “play nice” to Luke and Michael before taking her hand and pulling her into the middle of the basketball court, where the streamers hanging from the ceiling brushed the top of his head as he swayed the two of them to the beat.

“Unbelievable,” Michael said. “This happens every time we go to something like this. Well, at least you didn’t abandon me. Unless you leave me to dance with a cheerleader, too.”

“I’m not really a dancer so I don’t mind watching,” Luke said, tapping his fingers on the tabletop.

Michael shot him an incredulous look, before turning back to face the dance floor. “Dancing is the last thing on their minds. It’s like really boring foreplay.”

Luke snorted, immediately bringing his hand up to cover his mouth. He flushed a deep red when Michael turned and looked at him with smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Nice, Hemmings.”

Luke bit his bottom lip and stared at the silver confetti starts scattered across the table, changing colours along with the lighting. He always managed to make a fool out of himself whenever Michael was concerned. It was like someone put a curse on him because every time he was alone with the other boy, he could barely string a sentence together, or tripped himself up every two steps. Michael probably thought he was a massive loser and only hung around with him because for some reason Calum had taken a liking to him.

The song changed again, and Luke recognised the introduction immediately, the slow piano and smooth bass.

“Huh,” he heard Michael say. “Springsteen. They’re actually playing good music.”

“I love this song, it’s probably my favourite.”

Michael nodded, and stood up from the table. Luke felt a little disappointed and was preparing himself for spending the rest of the night alone when Michael stepped in front of him and held out his hand.

“What?” Luke said, eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he stared at Michael’s outstretched hand. “I don’t....”

“Dance with me, Hemmings.” Luke stared up at Michael with his mouth open. “C’mon. This will probably be the only good song they play, and by the looks of it no one is gonna ask either of us to dance, so let’s not waste it.”

Luke continued to stare dumbly at Michael’s hand. “I can’t dance.” In theory, dancing with Michael is something he would like to do very much, but in practice, well, Luke would find a way to trip if he was locked in a room with no room to move.

“I don’t care, I can’t either. Come on, don’t turn me down,” Michael said with a pout. “I’ll be really embarrassed if I have to sit back down with all these people looking at me.” Luke did a quick scan of the room to confirm that no one was actually looking at them, or even acknowledging their existence. “Imagine the humiliation,” Michael said dramatically, small smile back on his lips.

“Okay,” Luke said. “But I’m gonna embarrass you. You’d pull better dance moves out of that chair than you’ll get out of me.”

“If you’re really that shit, we can ditch and get ice cream or something. Come on,” Michael said. Luke swallowed the lump is his throat and took Michael’s hand when he stood up, trying not to vomit up the butterflies in his stomach that were going crazy.

Michael kept a grip on his hand until they made it to the centre of the dance floor, and then only let it go so he could guide Luke’s hands to his waist and link his fingers behind Luke’s neck. They moved slowly, just swaying back and forth. Luke’s skin was burning where Michael was touching, his stomach flipping as Michael played with the hair curling at the back of his neck.

“You’re not bad at all,” Michael whispered, standing on his tiptoes to whisper in Luke’s ear. Luke didn’t answer, just tightened his grip on Michael’s waist and kept them moving otherwise he would have passed out.

“Baby, baby, baby,” Michael sings along, and rests his forehead against Luke’s shoulder.

Over the top of Michael’s head, Luke can see Mr. Davidson looking at them and expects him to come over and tell them to break it up, but he doesn’t, so Luke moves his hands to the small of Michael’s back and pulls him closer.

*3*`

“Okay, I’m going in the shower.” Calum said, pulling himself from his bed. Michael grunted from his sleeping bag, eyes still glued to his Nintendo. “You guys can set up the movie or whatever while I’m gone, I won’t be too long.”

“What do you want me to put on?” Luke asked, kicking his own sleeping bag off his legs.

“Surprise me,” Calum said, slinging a towel over his shoulder and grabbing plaid bottoms and a shirt from one of his drawers. Luke nodded and walked across the room to where Calum had his DVDs stacked, and looked through the titles until he could hear the sound of the shower running from Calum’s en-suite.

He turned to face Michael, who was burrowed down in his sleeping bag, only tufts of blond hair sticking out of the top. Since the dance, it hadn’t been awkward between them per sé, but it definitely wasn’t the same as it had been before, and Luke wanted to go back to the easy banter and crude jokes, to leave the shy glances and fumbled sentences behind.

He cleared his throat, and Michael’s forehead, then eyes, peeked out from the bag. “I’m going to the kitchen,” Luke said. “You want anything?”

“No thanks,” Michael replied, and pulled his Nintendo back in front of his face. “Actually, Calum stashes his nachos in the pantry. Grab me a bag?”

Joy and David had gone into Calum’s room to tell the three boys that they’d be leaving for a while, so when Luke heard music coming from the kitchen he was a little confused. He didn’t want to just walk into the Hood kitchen while Calum’s parents were eating dinner or something. As much as they told him to make himself at home, he didn’t think they meant that much, so he knocked the door before he opened it, just in case. When there was no answer, he pushed the door open and took a step into the empty kitchen.

He pulled out a bag of nachos for Michael, hoping Calum wouldn’t be too mad with him, and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. When he was filling it from the tap, his eyes drifted to the CD player sitting on the worktop, Bruce Springsteen playing lowly. The CD case was lying open in front of it, and Luke set his glass down before walking over and picking the case up, scanning the titles on the back, looking for one in particular.

When he found it, he put the CD to that track number and turned it up, facing the stereo and just listening to the music. It immediately brought back memories of prom night, and he couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face, the weird feeling in his chest making his head a little light.

He hadn’t realised he’d been singing out loud until he heard clapping from behind him, right in the middle of the chorus, and he turned around so fast he hit his hip off the edge of the counter. He expected to see Calum standing there, and was planning blaming him for the sore hip as a result of the scare, but it was Michael standing there.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you, it’s just, you’ve a nice voice.”

Luke mumbled something, eyes glued to the floor as he tried to keep his breathing regular. He saw Michael’s feet stopping in front of his own before he even realised Michael had moved closer, and when he looked up, they were face to face.

“Do you remember this from prom?” Michael asked, voice quiet and Luke almost didn’t hear him. Luke looks into his eyes, and there’s no hint of teasing, or event the glint of mischief Michael usually has. There’s something else there – something Luke can’t exactly place, but knows he feels it himself.

Luke’s throat was tight and burning, so many things trying to break past the lump that had formed. “How could I ever forget?” he said, surprising himself with how steady his voice was.

Michael nodded, and took Luke’s hands. He placed them on his waist, the same position from their first dance, and then put his own behind Luke’s neck. Luke tried to ignore how right it felt – dancing with Michael in Calum’s kitchen while they listened to the song that reminded Luke so much of love, but he couldn’t.

He let himself sign along this time, the words far away as he got lost in the depths of Michael’s eyes. Michael’s bottom lip was white from where he was biting on it. Luke watched as the blood rushed back into it when he let go, turning his lip a bright red that had Luke’s heart pounding.

“Luke?” Michael whispered, and Luke barely heard it over the ringing in his ears. All he could hear was Bruce Springsteen and all he could see was Michael’s lips – plump and red and _right there._

“Luke,” Michael said again, He moved his hand from the back of Luke’s neck to cup his cheek, and both leaned forward at the same time, smiling when their lips met. It was soft an gentle, just a press of lips, both too unsure of how far to take it.

When they pulled apart for air, Luke couldn’t keep the smile off his face, but didn’t feel idiotic about it because Michael was smiling just as big. “I was kinda hoping you would do that at the prom,” Michael said, “but I suppose now works just as well.”

Instead of answering, Luke leaned back down to kiss Michael again, snaking his arms around Michael’s waist as the song played in the background. Michael’s grip in his hair tightened, and Luke groaned in the back of his throat when Michael opened his mouth to let Luke slip tongue in and deepen the kiss.

They were interrupted by someone coughing behind them, and Luke felt his face heat up one hundred degrees. He was afraid it was Joy or David home early, but it was only Calum standing in the doorway with a towel draped across his shoulders to stop his hair dripping onto his shoulders. His mouth was hanging open, and he looked torn between saying something and walking away.

“Shut up, Calum,” Michael said before grabbing the front of Luke’s shirt and pulling him in for another kiss.

*4*

Luke had his head resting on Michael’s chest as Michael ran his fingers through his hair, his breathing lulling Luke into a soft doze. His other hand was drawing patterns on Luke’s back through his t-shirt, and even through the fabric Michael’s touch made Luke shiver. “You’re chest is really nice,” Luke said. “Soft and comfy and warm.”

Michael scoffed. “Soft?”

“Mmm,” Luke said, shoving a hand up the hem of Michael’s shirt to feel his tummy.

“Your hands are fucking cold, Hemmings,” Michael said, but rested his arm on top of the one Luke had under his shirt so he couldn’t move it away. He felt the other boy press a kiss to the top of his head, and smiled into his chest.

“Mom wants you to come around for dinner tomorrow. Says I should be ashamed that you’ve only been over, like, what? Twelve million times?”

Michael chuckled. “I’d love to, your mom’s awesome.”

“Sometimes I think you’d rather spend time with her than with me.”

“Duh,” Michael said, manoeuvring out from underneath Luke and walking across the room.

“Hey,” Luke protested when his head hit the only slightly warm sheets. “What’re you doing? Come back, I’m cold.”

“Hang on a second, I’m only putting on music.”

Luke laughed when he heard the song Michael had picked, rolling his eyes and sitting up in the bed. Before the introduction had even finished Michael was kneeling in front of him again, cheeks looking a little pink. “You big ol’ sap,” Luke said. He reached a hand out for Michael, and smiled when Michael took it immediately.

“You love it.”

“I do,” Luke said, stalling for a minute. He was going to say it, he decided. He’d been wanting to say it for so long, but had been scared it was too soon or that Michael might not feel the same way. But with Michael smiling at him like that, hand gripped so tight like he was afraid Luke might try and get away, he was sure. More sure than he had been of anything in his whole life. “I do love it. And I love you.”

It felt like a weight had been lifted, like everything that he had been feeling was finally laid bare. It was also a little scary, knowing that Michael could do with it what he wanted, could hurt him, but Luke knew that he wouldn’t. Michael didn’t say anything, just stared at Luke while he tightened his grip on Luke’s hand even more.

“I love you, Michael,” Luke said again with determination.

Michael blinked before he pulled Luke towards him, not letting go of his hand and toppling them both onto the bed. They rolled over until Michael was on top, bowing down to press chaste kisses on Luke’s forehead, cheeks, lips.

“I love you, too. So damn much, Hemmings.”

“Show me,” Luke said, spreading his legs so Michael could fit between them more comfortably.

“What?”

“Show me how much you love me. I want you to make love to me,” Luke said, brushing Michael’s fringe off of his forehead.

Michael shook his head. “Luke, are you sure? We haven’t... We’ve never...”

Luke moved his hand to the back of Michael’s head so he could pull him down and press a kiss to his lips, soft and sweet. “I want you to. I’m sure. I love you and I want to do this with you.”

“Okay, okay. Just let me get stuff. I’ll be back really quick.” He kissed Luke once more before crawling off the bed and disappearing into his bathroom.

“Oh my God,” Luke laughed, when he heard Drive All Night starting up again in the background. “Do you have this on repeat?” he shouted into Michael, who stuck his head out of the door when Luke called.

“I thought I was being romantic.”

“Dork,” Luke muttered fondly.

*5*

Luke liked this party.

He was sitting to the side watching everyone dancing, sitting around tables and catching up. His face was aching from the smile that had been there all day, but he didn’t care, just looked around the room until he found Michael at the bar talking to Calum, and then he smiled even bigger.

His brother walked past and shoved a beer into his hand, clapped him on the back and said he was having the best time. Ashton thanked Luke for finally introducing him to Calum, and then the two of them had spent the rest of evening glued to each other, even switching seats at dinner to sit beside each other. His mother cried, his dad tried not to, his cousins all shook his hand and said they were happy for him.

There was an announcement that Luke didn’t hear, too wrapped in his own thoughts to even pay attention. The lights dimmed and the dance floor cleared, and then Michael was standing in front of him. One hand held out and a cheeky smile on his face, just like all those years ago at prom. But this time he was dressed in a fancy tux and had a silver ring around the fourth finger on his left hand. One that matched Luke’s.

“You ready for our first dance, Hemmings?” he asked.

Once again, Luke heard the familiar introduction and laughed. He wasn’t even surprised by Michael’s choice.

“Springsteen, huh?” he asked.

“I know, right?” Michael said with a smile. “They’re actually playing good music.” Luke’s heart swelled when he recalled that night at the prom. The same song, the same line, the same Michael.

“It’s Hemmings – Clifford,” Luke said. He stood from his chair and followed Michael to the middle of the floor.

“What?”

“Not Hemmings. Hemmings – Clifford.”

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is t1mburton and you should come talk to me about stuff.


End file.
